Factors Affecting Adherence to Pediatrics Antiretroviral Therapy in Mekelle Hospital, Tigray Ethiopia

The most important factor in the success of HIV treatment is adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART).The challenge to adherence to ART is particularly serious in Sub-Saharan Africa as the high rates of HIV/AIDS lead to greater numbers of affected individuals. Although long-term good ART adherence has been observed in certain settings of public sectors the magnitude of this challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa remains large and there is evidence for high rates of patient\u27s poor adherence. Study aimed to assess the factors affecting adherence to pediatrics antiretroviral therapy (ART) among children in Mekelle hospital, Tigray, Ethiopia. A Hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted on 226 children on antiretroviral therapy from May 01 to 30/2014 at Mekelle hospital. Data was collected from care givers of children under 15 years old who are on ART. Of the 226 children under 15 years, 90.3 % reported complete adherence to antiretroviral therapy medications at the regular schedule over the past 7 days. Factors associated with adherence were having male care giver (AOR=2.10[1.01, 7.22]), age of the child (AOR=1.43[1.16, 3.98]) below 5 years and use of first line ART drugs (AOR=2.86[1.54, 3.67]). Over all the adherence of children on ART to their medication in this study is relatively higher as compared to others. However, complete adherence is expected in order to make the drugs effective. Different strategies have to be designed to improve the adherence level

Factors Affecting Adherence to Pediatrics Antiretroviral Therapy in Mekelle Hospital, Tigray Ethiopia

The most important factor in the success of HIV treatment is adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART).The challenge to adherence to ART is particularly serious in Sub-Saharan Africa as the high rates of HIV/AIDS lead to greater numbers of affected individuals. Although long-term good ART adherence has been observed in certain settings of public sectors the magnitude of this challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa remains large and there is evidence for high rates of patient’s poor adherence. Study aimed to assess the factors affecting adherence to pediatrics antiretroviral therapy (ART) among children in Mekelle hospital, Tigray, Ethiopia. A Hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted on 226 children on antiretroviral therapy from May 01 to 30/2014 at Mekelle hospital. Data was collected from care givers of children under 15 years old who are on ART. Of the 226 children under 15 years, 90.3 % reported complete adherence to antiretroviral therapy medications at the regular schedule over the past 7 days. Factors associated with adherence were having male care giver (AOR=2.10[1.01, 7.22]), age of the child (AOR=1.43[1.16, 3.98]) below 5 years and use of first line ART drugs (AOR=2.86[1.54, 3.67]). Over all the adherence of children on ART to their medication in this study is relatively higher as compared to others. However, complete adherence is expected in order to make the drugs effective. Different strategies have to be designed to improve the adherence level

Retrospective Assessment of Malnutrition Among Under-five Children in Ayder Referral Hospital, Tigray Ethiopia

Currently worldwide there are about 60 million children with moderate acute and 13 million with severe acute malnutrition. About 9% of sub-Saharan African and 15%of south Asian children have moderate acute malnutrition and about 2% of children in developing countries have severe acute malnutrition. The objective of aim the study was to assess the magnitude of malnutrition in under five children in Ayder referral hospital using a retrospective cross-sectional study design. This study showed that male children, 168(58.1%), were higher than female, 121(41.9%).. Majority, 133(46%), were in the age group b/n 12 to 24 months .More than half, 186(64.4%) were rural dwellers. The types of malnutrition identified were Marasmus, kwashiorkor, Marasmic kwash and underweight which account for 116(40.1%), 69(23.9%), 54(18.7%) and 50(17.5%) respectively. Marasmus was the predominant type of malnutrition in all age groups of under five malnourished children with prevalence of 40.1% where as underweight was the prevalent type of malnutrition (17.3%). More over the infant feeding practices such as exclusive breast feeding, timely initiation of complementary feeding, and having history of breast feeding once in their life during infancy were relatively higher among the children as compared with other studies

Disclosure of HIV-positive status to sexual partner and associated factors among ART users in Mekelle Hospital

Teklemariam Gultie,1 Minichil Genet,2 Girum Sebsibie31Department of Midwifery, Arba Minch University, Arba Minch, Southern Ethiopia, Ethiopia; 2Department of Nursing, Debre Tabor Health Science College, Amhara Region, Ethiopia; 3Department of Nursing and Midwifery, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, EthiopiaPurpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the disclosure of HIV-positive status and its associated factors to sexual partners among patients attending antiretroviral therapy (ART) clinic follow-up at Mekelle Hospital, Tigray, Ethiopia.Patients and methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted at Mekelle hospital. Samples of 324 individuals were selected by using systematic random sampling techniques from July 1 until July 30, 2013. The data were collected by trained data collectors through a pretested semi-structured questionnaire. The collected data were cleaned, coded, entered, and analyzed using SPSS version 16.0 Windows program. Descriptive statistics and binary and multivariable regression analysis with 95% confidence interval was carried out and P-value less than 0.05 used to determine the significant association.Results: A total of 324 people on ART care follow-up were interviewed with 100% response rate. The overall HIV status disclosure to sexual partner was 57.4%. Among those who disclosed their HIV status, 58% of them told their partner after 1 month after diagnosis. The study showed that there is significant association between knowing HIV status of sexual partner (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] =16.69, 95% CI: 5.4, 51.65), duration of HIV-related care follow-up (AOR =5.48, 95% CI =2.17, 13.80), and discussion before HIV testing (AOR =4.33, 95% CI =1.43, 13.08), with HIV-positive status disclosure to sexual partner.Conclusion: An HIV-positive status disclosure to a sexual partner in this study was lower than what was reported in other studies in Ethiopia. The duration of HIV-related care follow-up, knowing partner's HIV status, and prior discussion were the main factors that affected the practice of HIV-positive status disclosure to their sexual partners.Keywords: cross sectional, institution based, systematic sampling, multivariate analysi

Disclosure of HIV-positive status to sexual partner and associated factors among ART users in Mekelle Hospital

Teklemariam Gultie,1 Minichil Genet,2 Girum Sebsibie31Department of Midwifery, Arba Minch University, Arba Minch, Southern Ethiopia, Ethiopia; 2Department of Nursing, Debre Tabor Health Science College, Amhara Region, Ethiopia; 3Department of Nursing and Midwifery, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, EthiopiaPurpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the disclosure of HIV-positive status and its associated factors to sexual partners among patients attending antiretroviral therapy (ART) clinic follow-up at Mekelle Hospital, Tigray, Ethiopia.Patients and methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted at Mekelle hospital. Samples of 324 individuals were selected by using systematic random sampling techniques from July 1 until July 30, 2013. The data were collected by trained data collectors through a pretested semi-structured questionnaire. The collected data were cleaned, coded, entered, and analyzed using SPSS version 16.0 Windows program. Descriptive statistics and binary and multivariable regression analysis with 95% confidence interval was carried out and P-value less than 0.05 used to determine the significant association.Results: A total of 324 people on ART care follow-up were interviewed with 100% response rate. The overall HIV status disclosure to sexual partner was 57.4%. Among those who disclosed their HIV status, 58% of them told their partner after 1 month after diagnosis. The study showed that there is significant association between knowing HIV status of sexual partner (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] =16.69, 95% CI: 5.4, 51.65), duration of HIV-related care follow-up (AOR =5.48, 95% CI =2.17, 13.80), and discussion before HIV testing (AOR =4.33, 95% CI =1.43, 13.08), with HIV-positive status disclosure to sexual partner.Conclusion: An HIV-positive status disclosure to a sexual partner in this study was lower than what was reported in other studies in Ethiopia. The duration of HIV-related care follow-up, knowing partner's HIV status, and prior discussion were the main factors that affected the practice of HIV-positive status disclosure to their sexual partners.Keywords: cross sectional, institution based, systematic sampling, multivariate analysi

Factors Affecting Adherence to Pediatrics Antiretroviral Therapy in Mekelle Hospital, Tigray Ethiopia

The most important factor in the success of HIV treatment is adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART).The challenge to adherence to ART is particularly serious in Sub-Saharan Africa as the high rates of HIV/AIDS lead to greater numbers of affected individuals. Although long-term good ART adherence has been observed in certain settings of public sectors the magnitude of this challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa remains large and there is evidence for high rates of patient’s poor adherence. Study aimed to assess the factors affecting adherence to pediatrics antiretroviral therapy (ART) among children in Mekelle hospital, Tigray, Ethiopia. A Hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted on 226 children on antiretroviral therapy from May 01 to 30/2014 at Mekelle hospital. Data was collected from care givers of children under 15 years old who are on ART. Of the 226 children under 15 years, 90.3 % reported complete adherence to antiretroviral therapy medications at the regular schedule over the past 7 days. Factors associated with adherence were having male care giver (AOR=2.10[1.01, 7.22]), age of the child (AOR=1.43[1.16, 3.98]) below 5 years and use of first line ART drugs (AOR=2.86[1.54, 3.67]). Over all the adherence of children on ART to their medication in this study is relatively higher as compared to others. However, complete adherence is expected in order to make the drugs effective. Different strategies have to be designed to improve the adherence level